One-year stable pilot-scale operation demonstrates high flexibility of mainstream anammox application

Min Zheng; Huijuan Li; Haoran Duan; Tao Liu; Zhiyao Wang; Jing Zhao; Zhetai Hu; Shane Watts; Jia Meng; Peng Liu; Maxime Rattier; Eloise Larsen; Jianhua Guo; Jason Dwyer; Ben Van Den Akker; James Lloyd; Shihu Hu; Zhiguo Yuan

doi:10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100166

One-year stable pilot-scale operation demonstrates high flexibility of mainstream anammox application

Min Zheng^*, Huijuan Li, Haoran Duan, Tao Liu, Zhiyao Wang, Jing Zhao, Zhetai Hu, Shane Watts, Jia Meng, Peng Liu, Maxime Rattier, Eloise Larsen, Jianhua Guo, Jason Dwyer, Ben Van Den Akker, James Lloyd, Shihu Hu^*, Zhiguo Yuan^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

102 Citations (Scopus)

51 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Mainstream nitrogen removal via anammox is widely recognized as a promising wastewater treatment process. However, its application is challenging at large scale due to unstable suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). In this study, a pilot-scale mainstream anammox process was implemented in an Integrated Fixed-film Activated Sludge (IFAS) configuration. Stable operation with robust NOB suppression was maintained for over one year. This was achieved through integration of three key control strategies: i) low dissolved oxygen (DO = 0.4 ± 0.2 mg O₂/L), ii) regular free nitrous acid (FNA)-based sludge treatment, and iii) residual ammonium concentration control (NH₄⁺ with a setpoint of ∼8 mg N/L). Activity tests and FISH demonstrated that NOB barely survived in sludge flocs and were inhibited in biofilms. Despite receiving organic-deficient wastewater from a pilot-scale High-Rate Activated Sludge (HRAS) system as the feed, the system maintained a stable effluent total nitrogen concentration mostly below 10 mg N/L, which was attributed to the successful retention of anammox bacteria. This study successfully demonstrated large-scale long-term mainstream anammox application and generated new practical knowledge for NOB control and anammox retention. © 2023 The Author(s)

Original language	English
Article number	100166
Journal	Water Research X
Volume	19
Online published	10 Jan 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100166
Publication status	Published - 1 May 2023
Externally published	Yes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation
SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Research Keywords

Autotrophic nitrogen removal from wastewater
Bioenergy recovery
Effluent quality
Mainstream anammox
NOB suppression

Publisher's Copyright Statement

This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100166

170260564.pdfFinal Published version, 3.18 MBLicence: CC BY

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Zheng, M., Li, H., Duan, H., Liu, T., Wang, Z., Zhao, J., Hu, Z., Watts, S., Meng, J., Liu, P., Rattier, M., Larsen, E., Guo, J., Dwyer, J., Akker, B. V. D., Lloyd, J., Hu, S., & Yuan, Z. (2023). One-year stable pilot-scale operation demonstrates high flexibility of mainstream anammox application. Water Research X, 19, Article 100166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100166

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title = "One-year stable pilot-scale operation demonstrates high flexibility of mainstream anammox application",

abstract = "Mainstream nitrogen removal via anammox is widely recognized as a promising wastewater treatment process. However, its application is challenging at large scale due to unstable suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). In this study, a pilot-scale mainstream anammox process was implemented in an Integrated Fixed-film Activated Sludge (IFAS) configuration. Stable operation with robust NOB suppression was maintained for over one year. This was achieved through integration of three key control strategies: i) low dissolved oxygen (DO = 0.4 ± 0.2 mg O2/L), ii) regular free nitrous acid (FNA)-based sludge treatment, and iii) residual ammonium concentration control (NH4+ with a setpoint of ∼8 mg N/L). Activity tests and FISH demonstrated that NOB barely survived in sludge flocs and were inhibited in biofilms. Despite receiving organic-deficient wastewater from a pilot-scale High-Rate Activated Sludge (HRAS) system as the feed, the system maintained a stable effluent total nitrogen concentration mostly below 10 mg N/L, which was attributed to the successful retention of anammox bacteria. This study successfully demonstrated large-scale long-term mainstream anammox application and generated new practical knowledge for NOB control and anammox retention. {\textcopyright} 2023 The Author(s)",

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author = "Min Zheng and Huijuan Li and Haoran Duan and Tao Liu and Zhiyao Wang and Jing Zhao and Zhetai Hu and Shane Watts and Jia Meng and Peng Liu and Maxime Rattier and Eloise Larsen and Jianhua Guo and Jason Dwyer and Akker, {Ben Van Den} and James Lloyd and Shihu Hu and Zhiguo Yuan",

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month = may,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100166",

language = "English",

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issn = "2589-9147",

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T1 - One-year stable pilot-scale operation demonstrates high flexibility of mainstream anammox application

AU - Zheng, Min

AU - Li, Huijuan

AU - Duan, Haoran

AU - Liu, Tao

AU - Wang, Zhiyao

AU - Zhao, Jing

AU - Hu, Zhetai

AU - Watts, Shane

AU - Meng, Jia

AU - Liu, Peng

AU - Rattier, Maxime

AU - Larsen, Eloise

AU - Guo, Jianhua

AU - Dwyer, Jason

AU - Akker, Ben Van Den

AU - Lloyd, James

AU - Hu, Shihu

AU - Yuan, Zhiguo

PY - 2023/5/1

Y1 - 2023/5/1

N2 - Mainstream nitrogen removal via anammox is widely recognized as a promising wastewater treatment process. However, its application is challenging at large scale due to unstable suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). In this study, a pilot-scale mainstream anammox process was implemented in an Integrated Fixed-film Activated Sludge (IFAS) configuration. Stable operation with robust NOB suppression was maintained for over one year. This was achieved through integration of three key control strategies: i) low dissolved oxygen (DO = 0.4 ± 0.2 mg O2/L), ii) regular free nitrous acid (FNA)-based sludge treatment, and iii) residual ammonium concentration control (NH4+ with a setpoint of ∼8 mg N/L). Activity tests and FISH demonstrated that NOB barely survived in sludge flocs and were inhibited in biofilms. Despite receiving organic-deficient wastewater from a pilot-scale High-Rate Activated Sludge (HRAS) system as the feed, the system maintained a stable effluent total nitrogen concentration mostly below 10 mg N/L, which was attributed to the successful retention of anammox bacteria. This study successfully demonstrated large-scale long-term mainstream anammox application and generated new practical knowledge for NOB control and anammox retention. © 2023 The Author(s)

AB - Mainstream nitrogen removal via anammox is widely recognized as a promising wastewater treatment process. However, its application is challenging at large scale due to unstable suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). In this study, a pilot-scale mainstream anammox process was implemented in an Integrated Fixed-film Activated Sludge (IFAS) configuration. Stable operation with robust NOB suppression was maintained for over one year. This was achieved through integration of three key control strategies: i) low dissolved oxygen (DO = 0.4 ± 0.2 mg O2/L), ii) regular free nitrous acid (FNA)-based sludge treatment, and iii) residual ammonium concentration control (NH4+ with a setpoint of ∼8 mg N/L). Activity tests and FISH demonstrated that NOB barely survived in sludge flocs and were inhibited in biofilms. Despite receiving organic-deficient wastewater from a pilot-scale High-Rate Activated Sludge (HRAS) system as the feed, the system maintained a stable effluent total nitrogen concentration mostly below 10 mg N/L, which was attributed to the successful retention of anammox bacteria. This study successfully demonstrated large-scale long-term mainstream anammox application and generated new practical knowledge for NOB control and anammox retention. © 2023 The Author(s)

KW - Autotrophic nitrogen removal from wastewater

KW - Bioenergy recovery

KW - Effluent quality

KW - Mainstream anammox

KW - NOB suppression

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DO - 10.1016/j.wroa.2023.100166

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

C2 - 36685722

SN - 2589-9147

VL - 19

JO - Water Research X

JF - Water Research X

M1 - 100166

ER -

One-year stable pilot-scale operation demonstrates high flexibility of mainstream anammox application

Abstract

UN SDGs

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

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